Drawings by Ingres at the Morgan Library and Museum

An exhibition at the Morgan Library and Museum presents eighteen drawings by the French Neoclassicist painter Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780–1867). September 9–November 27, 2011

Source: Morgan Library and Museum / theartwolf.com

Widely known for his academic paintings, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780–1867) was also a brilliant draftsman, one of the greatest in French history. "Ingres at the Morgan" displays 17 drawings and three letters by Ingres from the collection of the Morgan Library and Museum, together with one important loan.

The Neoclassicist Ingres has been often considered a guardian of academic orthodoxy , opposed to the Romantic style represented by Eugène Delacroix, Théodore Géricault, and other artists associated with France’s Revolution Era. He described himself as "a conservator, not an innovator". Interestingly, "Ingres at the Morgan" will run concurrently with the exhibition "David, Delacroix, and Revolutionary France: Drawings from the Louvre" (on view at the Morgan from September 23 through December 31, 2011)

"Ingres at the Morgan" includes early drawings like the "Portrait of a Boy" (c1793–4), created when Ingres was thirteen or fourteen years old, as well as mature works like "Odalisque and Slave" (1839), described by the Morgan as "the centerpiece of the exhibition".

The exhibition is organized by Esther Bell, Moore Curatorial Fellow in the Department of Drawings and Prints at the Morgan Library and Museum.